Inspections of the underside of vehicles for hidden narcotics, explosives and other contraband often is done, in the first instance, with the assistance of a mirror that is mounted on the end of a pole. The inspector uses the pole to place the mirror under the vehicle. By twisting and turning the pole with one hand and manipulating a flashlight with the other, he obtains a direct line-of-sight reflected view of most of the underside of the vehicle. However, the pole must be twisted and cocked at a wide variety of angles to accomplish this, forcing the inspector to bend and turn and to twist his or her arm at a variety of uncomfortable and tiring angles. Particularly at border-crossing customs points, many vehicles must be inspected hourly in this manner. The result is fatigue to the worker--causing inefficiency and perhaps eventually even stress-related injury.
Prior developments in this field may be generally illustrated by reference to the following information disclosure statement:
______________________________________ U.S. Pat. No. Patentee Issue Date ______________________________________ U.S. Patent Documents 2,581,304 R. Sims Jan. 1, 1952 3,004,474 F. Hund Oct. 17, 1961 3,003,397 L. Jacobus Oct. 10, 1961 2,852,979 F. Hund Sept. 23, 1958 4,050,776 M. Hsu Sept. 27, 1977 3,492,065 A. Kurz, Jr. Jan. 27, 1970 ______________________________________ Document No. Country Publication Date ______________________________________ Foreign Patent Documents GB2,044,946 Great Britain Oct. 22, 1980 GB897,990 Great Britain Jun. 6, 1962 ______________________________________
Patent GB2,044,946 teaches an illuminated mirror inspection device that has battery-powered lights on the handle, and has a manually-operated mechanical lever with which to rotate the mirror about axes extending at right angles to one another. Even in a pole mirror affording one or more degrees of remote-controlled rotational freedom to the mirror, the manual operation thereof (requiring repeated significant pressure of the thumb or finger) can be a source of strain and fatigue to the hand.
Patents GB897,990, 3,004,474, 3,003,397 and 2,852,979 teach inspection mirrors on elongated handles that can be manipulated to allow mirror movement, all of which are manual.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,050,776 and 3,492,065 show electrically powered movement of the side rear-view mirrors of vehicles.
It therefore will be appreciated that there continues to be a need for a new and improved powered mirror apparatus which addresses the problems of construction, effectiveness and ease of use that are attendant in the prior art. In this respect, the present invention substantially fulfills this need.